The present invention relates to vehicle restraint systems generally, and more particularly to a seat belt retractor mounted to the interior of an automotive vehicle.
Vehicle seat belt systems are adapted to restrain an occupant of the vehicle in the sudden acceleration or deceleration resulting from an impact. The seat belt retractors, which store the coiled seat belt webbing on a spool, allow the belt webbing to be reeled out for deployment across the occupant of the seat and lock the belt webbing when sudden acceleration or deceleration is detected.
Retractors for shoulder type seat belts are typically mounted to the interior of the car frame or to the seat back. See, e g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,495,994, 5,452,941, 5,441,332, 5,423,598, and 5,411,319. The belt webbing is deployed across the shoulder and torso of the occupant with a tongue or latch plate latched to a buckle, typically below the occupant's waist on the inner side of the seat. The angle at which the belt webbing is optimally deployed across the body can vary depending on the size and shape of the occupant, especially for retractors mounted to the seat back.
Accordingly, a way to achieve a variable angle of deployment is to provide a rotatable escutcheon plate with an exit slot for the belt webbing. The exit slot helps prevent twisting of the webbing, and the rotatability of the escutcheon allows the angle of deployment to vary freely according to the direction of pull. The escutcheon can be mounted, for example, to the retractor mechanism or to the seat. However, the rotatable escutcheon can become misaligned from the retractor cover and can cause routing problems, thereby making withdrawal of the webbing more difficult.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a seat belt retractor system with a rotatable escutcheon plate having improved alignment and rotation. This is accomplished by mounting the rotatable escutcheon directly to the retractor cover, rather than to the retractor mechanism or to the vehicle seat.
Many other objects and purposes of the invention will be clear from the following detailed description of the drawings.